Stylistic studies, as one of the fundamental approaches in art historiography, play a crucial role in understanding and explaining the historical evolution of artworks. Therefore, for a better understanding of Iranian painting history, it is necessary to establish coherent principles for stylistics and formulate the development of this art throughout the Islamic period accordingly. Some art historians, such as Basil Gray and Sheila Canby, have narrated the history of Iranian painting based on systematic methods, and identifying their principles can be effective in this endeavor. To this end, this research compares Ernst Gombrich's theory of style, as a model for stylistics, with Basil Gray and Sheila Canby's stylistic principles to extract a framework for Iranian painting stylistics by discovering the similarities and differences between this theory and these two historians' historiographical principles. The research method is descriptive, employing qualitative content analysis to systematically compare these three scholars' approaches across four levels: theoretical foundations, stylistic analysis methodology, stylistic criteria, and historical narrative approach. The research findings reveal that Gombrich, with a psychological approach emphasizing the concept of schema, views style as the outcome of interaction between artists' mental schemas and external conditions; whereas Canby, with a socio-historical approach, focuses on the role of art patronage institutions and social contexts, and Gray, centering on technical and workshop traditions, emphasizes the importance of tradition continuity in style formation. These fundamental differences in theoretical foundations have led to significant distinctions in methodology and historical narrative approaches. Through analyzing these distinctions, this research proposes an integrative framework that utilizes Gombrich's theory in analyzing psychological mechanisms, Canby's methodology in historical documentation, and Gray's approach in understanding technical traditions. This integrative framework can lead to a more comprehensive understanding of stylistic complexities in Iranian art, particularly in studying artistic traditions like Gol-o-Morgh painting, where formal, psychological, historical, and technical aspects are intricately interwoven. |
